Gear Crash

Chapter 9

Sophia sat on the roof of her car, staring into the night sky. She sighed, and absentmindedly traced a circle on the windshield. Her job was to lure Kyle to his doom, distract him enough to allow The Scourge to invade the city and take control, betray Kyle and lead him to his death, then collect her reward. She had done multiple jobs like this before; she had seduced many men and women before, so... why did she feel so guilty about it this time? She looked down at the ground at the ants crawling all over the sidewalk. It must be nice, just crawling around, your only thought to provide food for your colony. She looked closer at the ants. They seemed to be of a peculiar species, as they had little yellow markings on the side of their head.

"How strange" She murmured to herself. The ants almost appeared to be growing. Her eyes widened. The ants had almost doubled in size, and they were still rapidly swelling up. Sophia slowly backed up, only to realize that she was facing a wall. She was cornered. The ants were about the size of a small dog, when suddenly, one of the ants stood up on it's hind legs. It then began growing at an impossibly fast rate, and morphed into a man wearing a track suit. He had a pair of green goggles on, and a cheap fake antennae on, like the kind you'd find in a kid's Halloween costume. 

"Greetings, puny human! I am the great Ant Lord! Bow down before me!" He looked so ridiculous that Sophia couldn't help but snicker, and she ended up bursting out into laughter. Ant Lord was visibly irritated by this. "Puny mortal, we'll see how funny I am when my fearsome ants tear you apart!" This sobered Sophia up. Ant Lord may have been the most ridiculous thing she had seen in years, but he still posed a serious threat of being the LAST ridiculous thing she would ever see. She hit the alarm on her belt, signaling Kyle and Simon to her aid.

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Kyle opened the door to the lab to find a very, very cross Simon standing in the doorway, waiting for him.

"Where the heck were you for the last... three hours or so?" Simon glared at Kyle, seemingly staring into his eyes, searching for any sign of deceit. Kyle decided it was best that he didn't find out that he'd spent the time on a date with Sophia.

"I uh... I was looking for a job. Sophia showed me an engineering gig at her old place. The bill's won't pay for themselves, you know." Kyle took off his jacket and put it on the coat rack next to the door.

"Well, while you guys were having a jolly time playing with computers, I had to arrest a large smelly caveman with a Narcissus complex. And I can tell you he was NOT very pretty." Kyle's eyes widened as Simon told him his story.

"Oh my god dude, I'm so sorry! I promise it won't happen again."

"It better not." Simon muttered. "Seriously though, it's fine. He's in jail and you suit is fine. Just try not to ditch me next time." He shut the door and walked over to the minibar. He opened the door to the fridge and pulled out another orange soda. "Where's Sophia?"

"I'm not sure," Kyle admitted. "She ran down the street and just kinda disappeared. I'll go look for her." Suddenly, the alarm sounded again. "Or, we should go answer that." Simon sighed, visibly ticked off.

"I just got back and now this happens? Perfect." Simon chugged the rest of the orange soda, and wiped his mouth. "Let's go."

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Kyle arrived at the scene with Simon to find Sophia nowhere to be seen. "Sophia?" Simon called. "You there?"

"No, but I am!" They heard a voice triumphantly call. Ant Lord burst through the pavement, creating a massive hole in the ground. His ants had stopped growing, but they were already the size of a tow truck. Kyle stared at them.